by Suzy Turner
‘What is it, Lana?’ asked Emma from beneath the covers.
‘Get up and get dressed. Quickly. Something’s going on and I don’t want to miss it… Eleanor?’ Lana asked, as the young woman ran past the door. ‘What’s happening?’
‘Oh, we didn’t want to wake you. We thought you’d want to spend some time with your family.’
‘Eleanor?’
She sighed and stepped into their room, where Emma was busy tying the laces of her Converse.
‘You should be sleeping,’ Eleanor said, before Lana put her finger to her lips and pointed to Lucy Jo, who was still fast asleep. Eleanor nodded and continued in a whisper. ‘We’re going to Seville. We have reason to believe that Sthenelaus is there.’
‘We’re coming too.’ Lana said instantly.
‘No, Lana, I think you should sit this one out and stay with your family.’
‘No, please, Eleanor, we want to help and you know that my visions can help. Please let us come.’
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘What’s going on?’ asked a sleepy Patrick, who appeared in the doorway, tying the belt of his dressing gown.
‘Dad, they’re going to try and catch Sthenelaus.’
‘Why didn’t you wake me? Wait for me, I’m coming.’
Eleanor sighed.
‘I was trying to avoid this, Patrick. I think you should stay here.’
Patrick gave Eleanor a look and she backed down immediately, holding up her hands in defeat. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Your girls are trying to come along too. I’ll leave that to your discretion.’
‘Dad, please, we can help. You know we can. You’ve seen how we work. We could help. We’re coming, okay?’ Lana continued.
He just sighed and walked back to his room to change. ‘I’ll be out in a sec. Go get ready.’
oOo
Waking up in the car with drool dribbling down her chin, Lana quickly wiped it away and stole a glance at Barber, to make sure he hadn’t seen. He had and he was smirking. She elbowed him in the side and stuck her tongue out before smiling.
‘Thanks for coming,’ she whispered.
‘I’ll always be here to look out for you, Lana. You should know that by now,’ he whispered back.
Leaning her head against his shoulder, she gazed out at the sky as the sun threatened to show itself to the world. The motorway was monotonous—there was nothing but tarmac for miles ahead—but at least it meant they’d arrive in Seville sooner. Hopefully Sthenelaus would still be there.
Lana shivered at the thought of finally coming face to face with such evil. She’d seen him before, of course, but this time they’d be prepared to take him down, for good.
She had no idea what the plan was, as there had been such a rush to leave Praxos. Audrey had tiptoed into the girls’ room and gently lifted Lucy Jo, carrying her back to her own bedroom, where Greg was sleeping in the spare bed. She placed her little girl next to him and stood watching them both; Lana had hugged her mother then, kissing her on the cheek before they left her under the watchful eye of Theodore, a few other mentors, and most of her classmates. Eleanor had only allowed Lana, Emma, Diarmuid and Barber (who wasn’t technically a Watcher and so he could pretty much do whatever he wanted) to join them.
Lana glanced down at her watch. That had been a couple of hours ago.
‘Are we almost there?’ she asked no-one in particular.
Declan nodded. ‘That’s Seville, over there,’ he pointed. ‘We’ll be there in a few minutes,’ he said, driving in convoy behind Arabella’s car.
‘Do you know what the plan is yet?’ Lana asked, as Emma slowly lifted her contorted neck and rubbed it sleepily.
‘Are we there?’ Emma murmured in a state of semi-sleep.
‘Yeah, almost,’ Lana answered. ‘Here, have a drink,’ she offered her a half-drunk bottle of coke.
Turning her nose up, Emma shook her head. ‘Anyone got any water?’
Diarmuid rifled around in the back and handed her a bottle.
‘Thanks.’
‘It’s very quiet,’ Lana murmured as they drove through little streets lined on either side with pretty old buildings.
‘It’s just after five in the morning, what do you expect?’ replied Declan with a smirk.
‘Oh yeah, I suppose.’
‘There’s a few people about, though.’ Diarmuid said, pointing to a small group who had clearly been drinking.
‘Probably just left a night club or something,’ Declan added.
‘Where are we going, anyway?’ Emma asked as she watched one of the drunken men stumble in the gutter. The other went to help but ended up falling on top of him.
Shaking her head, she looked at Declan, waiting for an answer.
‘Apparently this guy has got some kind of illness, and his only reprieve is at Turkish baths or something like that. Apparently there’s a large one, here in the centre. Aria believes he might be here… he usually has to stay for a day or so for it to make any difference.’
‘His cough,’ said Lana.
‘Huh?’
‘He has a really bad cough. I remember seeing him coughing like nobody’s business in some of the visions. When he has an attack, it’s horrible. It’s like he’s gonna die, or something.’
‘Yeah, wish he would. It would certainly solve a lot of problems, don’t you think?’ Diarmuid added.
‘I don’t know what his illness is, but I don’t know if it’s deadly,’ Declan replied.
‘Well, let’s just hope that he’s having a really bad attack right now and that he’s where we think he is,’ Emma said as they eventually came to a standstill. They watched as the others began climbing out of the cars.
Arabella approached their vehicle. Rolling down his window, Declan leaned out to listen to her. ‘I think we should go in first. Wait here. We’ll come and let you know if he’s there.’
‘Just look for him, Arabella. Don’t go in all guns blazin’, mate.’
‘Don’t worry, we won’t. Be right back.’
Declan sat back, tapping his fingers on the dashboard.
‘Are we really just going to let them go in first? Shouldn’t we go too?’ asked Lana. ‘I don’t want to miss that son of a b—’
‘Lana!’ Emma scolded.
‘Really, Em, it’s like having Mum here,’ Lana moaned.
Barber and Diarmuid exchanged glances with a knowing smile.
‘What?’ Lana exclaimed.
‘Nothing,’ said Barber.
‘You’re just so predictable,’ answered Diarmuid.
Both girls raised their eyebrows but said nothing.
‘Come on, I can’t just sit here,’ Lana attempted to open the door, but Declan turned immediately.
‘Oh no you don’t. Just sit tight and wait.’
‘Please,’ she sighed. ‘Come on, I know you want to go in too. Let’s just go.’
‘Stop it, Lana. We wait. Now sit still and do as you’re told.’
‘Dad’s going in,’ she said as she watched Patrick climb out of one of the other cars and disappear inside. ‘And he’s without backup, Declan. I’m going to help him.’
Declan watched Patrick and shook his head. ‘Okay, okay, let’s go. Just stay behind me. And above all, be careful.’
Grinning, Lana climbed out and let the others out after her. They walked into the building – straight in through the main entrance – without anybody stopping them.
‘Wow, it’s hot in here,’ whispered Emma as they walked down a beautiful Moroccan corridor and out into a covered courtyard. ‘It smells nice, though.’
Aria appeared in one of the doorways to the side. She hushed them and nodded. ‘He’s here.’
Declan nodded. ‘Arabella and Patrick?’
‘Through there,’ she pointed. ‘The others, too.’
Suddenly, the sound of splashing water could be heard, following by intense coughing and then silence. Declan rushed past Aria, pushing the others out of the way.
Patrick stood in the water, soaked from head to foot. In his arms was an unconscious Sthenelaus, wearing nothing but a big pair of Y-fronts.
‘Lovely,’ Lana said, screwing her face up in disgust. ‘That’s a picture I’m not going to be able to get out of my head. Gross.’
‘This was way too easy,’ Declan said as he helped pull Sthenelaus out.
‘He was in the water, unconscious,’ Patrick said, wiping his brow and climbing out.
‘Do you think it’s a trap?’ asked Emma as they just stood and watched the other Mentors handcuff him and carry him out of the building.
‘I don’t know. I don’t think so… I mean, he was unconscious,’ he whispered, looking around. ‘I honestly think he thought he was safe. If it wasn’t for Aria, we’d never have known about him coming to this place.’
‘But why was he unconscious? He might have drowned in there.’ Emma pointed. ‘Not like that would have been a bad thing.’
Declan shook his head. ‘Honestly? I haven’t a clue.’
Aria had been standing in the shadows, not keen at that point to reveal herself to her ‘husband’ until he’d been taken away.
‘Aria?’ asked Lana. ‘Are you okay?’
Nodding, she turned. ‘Did you find Madge, too?’
Patrick shook his head. ‘He was alone in the water.’
‘Then she must be close by,’ Aria gulped nervously.
‘Let’s split up,’ Declan suggested as they formed groups and headed off to look for his other wife, but after an hour of searching every part of the building, Madge was still nowhere to be found.
Regrouping outside of the Seville Thermal Bath House, they decided to leave her behind and take Sthenelaus back to Praxos in London, where he would eventually stand trial for his crimes.
Climbing back into the vehicles, the convoy set off, but as they did, Emma could have sworn she heard the sounds of a woman screaming out. It sounded like she was shouting ‘Sthenelaus!’ It made her shiver.
‘You okay?’ asked Diarmuid.
‘Did you hear that?’
‘What?’
‘Never mind, maybe it was just my imagination,’ Emma said, leaning her head against the cold window.
‘That was totally weird, like totally surreal.’ Lana said what everyone was thinking.
‘It was, wasn’t it?’ Barber replied, patting her knee gently.
‘I mean, he’s meant to be a leader of the Skulls, yet he was so weak, he had no powers and we found him just like that… I don’t get it. What’s going on?’
‘I don’t know, but at least we have him now. He can’t do any more harm. Not anymore. We’ll see to that,’ Declan said. ‘Now, why don’t you all try and get some sleep? We’ll be travelling another few hours before we get back to Monchique.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
One Week Later
‘I can’t believe we’re back at the Academy. It doesn’t seem like we had a proper Christmas holiday at all,’ moaned Lana as they climbed the stairs out of the building to meet Declan for their first class of the year.
‘That’s because we didn’t. Not really,’ Emma said, adjusting her warm winter coat and hat against the bitter wind.
‘Where are we going, anyway? We don’t usually get to go out during class.’
Before Emma could answer her sister, they were joined by the rest of their classmates as they approached Declan, who stood at the gate.
‘Morning, guys. I hope you’re all appropriately suited and booted for today’s class. The first class of the year with me, Declan Alexander, and my able assistant…’ he said flourishing his hands for added effect before someone stepped out from behind him. ‘Aria Sophokles.’
Aria grinned and then smacked him on his arm. ‘Don’t call me that,’ she almost shouted.
‘Well, that’s your name, isn’t it?’ He laughed as everybody giggled at them before welcoming Aria to London.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Lana.
‘I work here now—at least for a little while, anyway,’ she smiled.
Declan cleared his throat. ‘As I was saying, today we’re going on a field trip. We’ll be doing a fair bit of walking in the cold, so if you’re not wearing the appropriate footwear…’ He stopped and glanced at Lana.
‘What?’ she cried. ‘These are okay, aren’t they?’ she said, looking down at her knee high boots with kitten heels.
‘Lana Beth Morgan, go and change your shoes,’ Declan sighed.
The others all chuckled under their breath as she reluctantly turned and stomped away, almost slipping on the ice beneath her feet in the process.
‘Typical girl.’ Rupert grinned when Emma glared at him. ‘I only speak the truth.’
‘Yeah, yeah, I know,’ she laughed.
Some fifteen minutes later the group had arrived at their destination. Camden Town.
‘Camden? Why are we in Camden?’ asked Emma. ‘This is my favourite shopping street in all of London,’ she said, trying hard to keep her eyes from straying towards the multitude of weird and wonderful gothic, steampunk and alternative shop windows.
‘I’m afraid we’re not here to shop, Emma. You’ll have to wait for the weekend for that.’
She frowned, but chuckled as Declan led them away from the shop fronts and down beneath a secluded bridge.
‘I want you in pairs, please,’ Aria announced, and the couples each stood apart when they had finally decided. Naturally, Lana and Emma had wanted to be together, leaving Diarmuid to partner with one of the boys. He was used to it; he didn’t mind.
Declan began handing out flyers.
Looking down, Emma laughed. ‘This is a class? But this is fun?’ she said as Lana pulled the piece of paper from her hand and read the instructions.
‘We’re doing a treasure hunt? How cool is that?’ she guffawed.
‘Well, we figured you didn’t get much of a Christmas holiday, so we decided to have some fun during your first week back,’ Declan grinned.
‘We have a whole week of fun?’ asked Emma.
Both Declan and Aria nodded.
‘Cool.’ Emma grinned.
‘So now you’re in your teams, here are the clues. Go have fun. We’ll be around whenever you need us. If you get lost or lose us, just give us a buzz. You’ve all got mobile phones. Now, no cheating. Enjoy!’ he yelled as everyone scrambled away from the two adults, all laughing and whooping as they ran under the bridge and across the other side before finally stopping and realising they needed to read the paper to find out their first clue.
Declan and Aria laughed as they watched the teenagers all scatter in different directions.
‘I think this might take a while,’ he smiled, ‘considering they’re all looking for the same thing.’
Aria laughed as she leaned on the wall and looked down.
‘So how are you doing?’ He asked her.
‘Okay, I guess.’
‘C’mon, spill it.’
She sighed and stood upright again, turning so her back leaned against the bridge. ‘It’s been over a week now and we still haven’t managed to get any information out of him. Not even with Penny’s ability to make people speak the truth.’
‘He’s not just anybody, Aria. He’s Sthenelaus, one of the most powerful Skulls around.’
‘Do you really think that?’
He shrugged and rubbed his hands together for warmth. ‘Honestly?’
She nodded. ‘Of course.’
He shook his head. ‘Not anymore. I don’t know what happened, but he’s like a shadow of his former self. Although he’s obviously still capable of resisting our powers, he’s just a guy with an illness. An illness that appears to have taken all his own powers. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I can’t get my head around it.’
‘I know, that’s exactly how I feel now. But I don’t quite understand how quickly he deteriorated. He wasn’t like that a few days before.’
‘No?’
‘No. He w
as quite strong. Yes, he kept having the coughing fits, but then he’d be fine after a day or two in the Turkish baths.’
‘I wish I knew what was happening, and I wish I could find out the truth for you. It can’t be easy, not knowing.’
Aria sighed. ‘It’s been years, I guess I’m getting used to it.’
Declan patted her on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, mate. We’ll get to the bottom of this.’
‘I hope so. Come on, let’s get a coffee while they work this one out.’
Declan grinned. ‘Good idea.’
oOo
Down below in Camden Town
a hospital is what you’ll find
But once where horses soothed
Now belongs to the shopping kind
Find a locket with hair so pale
and a lady with eyes of night
There you’ll find your next clue
And a prize for the first of delight
‘Come on, Emma, we’ve got to find this clue. Stop looking at all this weird stuff. We’re not here to shop. I can’t believe I just said that.’
Emma raised an eyebrow and grinned. ‘It’s usually me that’s saying that to you.’
Lana linked arms with her sister as they read the clue again. ‘Do you think we’re in the right place?’ she asked.
Emma nodded. ‘Definitely, this place was an old horse hospital back in Victorian times,’ she said as they looked around them, realising none of their classmates were anywhere to be seen.
‘How do you know that?’
‘Are you kidding me? Like I said before, this is one of my favourite places in London.’
‘If you’re so smart, then where’s the next clue?’ Lana asked, smiling and pulling her sister towards the old tunnels.
‘I’m not sure, although I do recollect seeing a woman who likes to wear way out contact lenses. Maybe it’s her?’
‘Where? Come on, show me.’
Emma let go of her sister and ran in the opposite direction. ‘This way, I think.’
Walking quickly past a multitude of weird stallholders and shoppers, Emma stopped suddenly at the entrance to a small boutique. Inside sat a woman making jewellery. She looked up when they stepped inside, and smiled.
Lana gasped and then giggled.